#14 – LHP Steven Matz

Why Ranked Here: The Mets signed Matz, their first pick in the 2009 draft at #72 overall, for $895,000 on August 17th, making Matz, who grew up a Mets fan on Long Island, very happy. Now it’s his turn to return the excitement for the team and its fans.

On the day Matz signed, the Mets Director of Amateur Scouting, Rudy Terrasas explained what attracted the Mets to Matz, “The first thing that we were really impressed with Steven was his size, he’s 6’4”, 195, and he’s lefthanded. We liked his delivery. We liked his arm action. We liked the athleticism. We liked the way he competed.” Matz grew late in high school, which helped him add velocity, pushing him into the low 90s with regularity. He also attempted to add a slider last winter, but, by his own admission, that project was not an immediate success, as he felt more comfortable with his fastball, curveball and changeup.

Matz slips ahead of Juan Urbina because his fastball is presently better and he’s 20 lbs bigger. Matz can work in the low 90s, while Urbina’s heat at that velocity is still a projection. Also, if Matz was able to induce $900K from the Mets, wouldn’t he have been worth more than Urbina’s $1.25 million on the open market?

2009: Matz signed too late to appear in a GCL game, but reported for instructs in the DR.

well you can never have enough pitching… but that pick could be used in a few different ways.

1) A quality OF prospect to be a replacement for Beltran/Francouer in a couple years.
2) A quality SS prospect to be a replacement for Reyes in a few years.
3) Finally finding a proper replacement for Mike Piazza behind the plate.

When you’re top 10 you go with the best guy available and forget about filling holes that may come up in the future.

1) With F-Mart and Nieuwenhuis at AAA and AA we have two potential OF prospects to take over for Beltran/Francouer.
2) Who knows if Reyes will be healthy and/or resigned, but not worth taking a lesser prospect cause we might need a SS. If Reyes regains his health and gets back on track, SS will be blocked for years.
3) Finding a Piazza level C is a once in a generation thing. Thole is as good a catching prospect as we’ve had in decades.

For the first time in a long time we don’t have a bare bones minor league system, we have players coming up for every position and lots of arms, but because you never know what holes will be here in 2-3-4 years, it’s always best to take the best player available to you with the #7 pick.

1) Not sure about a CF’er, but Bryce Brentz is being touted as the top corner OF bat. Another name is a HS kid, Austin Wilson, who has a bunch of tools.
2) Christian Colon is the top SS in the draft from what I’ve read.
3) Haven’t read much on catchers going that high, except Harper obviously, but its still early.

There are always a bunch of pitchers (college/HS).. I like AJ Cole and Dylan Covey, assuming Jameson Taillon is off the board.

Does Harper even project to be a catcher, though? IIRC (which I may not), he was pegged to ultimately be a CO or 1B. He’s tempting for sure, but there’s just so much that could happen between now and when/if he’s ready. Hard to believe he was potty training when Carlos Beltran was drafted and now thanks to Sports Illustrated people are already counting his MVP Awards. Talk about pressure.